The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

What the American Revolution Secured: Order, Justice, and Freedom

Throughout the semiquincentennial year celebrating America’s independence, The University Bookman will invite a range of writers and speakers to contribute to a series drawing upon Russell Kirk’s work on the American Revolution and the constitutional order it secured.

A Problem Deeper than Groupthink

“Now a new volume comes our way from the busy desk of Robert P. George… an essay collection spanning subjects from Catholicism and civic order to ‘gnostic liberalism’ to the interplay of markets and civil society. Despite the broad subject matter, George’s overarching aim in this new collection is to discern how it is that civilization evolved from the ‘Age of Faith’ in the medieval period to the ‘Age of Reason’ of the Enlightenment and its aftermath, only to now arrive at what he calls the ‘Age of Feelings.’” 

Reconsidering Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Roosevelt’s true genius was the practice of politics. But his success at that practice did not come without costs of its own. Roosevelt may well have believed that his political success and his country’s economic recovery would proceed along parallel paths. But the evidence suggests otherwise. In fact, reading Beito leads one to surmise that the Rooseveltian preoccupation with the politics of leadership may well have significantly delayed and even retarded the very recovery that was supposed to result from his leadership.”

A Forgotten Russian Immigrant Poet in Hollywood

“Nostalgia unquestionably captivates all émigrés. There you may be, decades gone from the old country, and glad of it. Yet still you long for the taste of familiar foods, the sight of those Russian birch trees, and the sound of the language you never have the opportunity to speak outside the home.”

The Context for Human Dignity

The Context for Human Dignity

“While the twentieth century was still sporadically marked by remnants of Christian influence and dominance, the twenty-first has seen the final divorce of the secular and sacred, and the consequences are evident. What Leo XIII warned of, the evils he battled, have been let loose, paradigmatically captured by Artificial Intelligence which poorly imitates and devalues that which makes us essentially human… We would do well then to read Hittinger’s book in reflecting on how to face these challenges.”

Protestant Institutionalism and Christian America

Protestant Institutionalism and Christian America

“…Smith provides a thematic overview of the period between 1800 and 1860. His book is somewhat unique in that whereas many debates concern the religious character of the Founding or the Founders, Smith is concerned with the period afterwards.”

Reviving the Vanished Voice of a Maker

Reviving the Vanished Voice of a Maker

“Dorothy L. Sayers was the premiere female Christian intellectual of twentieth-century Britain, whose foremost accomplishments include being a pioneering detective novelist and religious dramatist, a daring translator of Dante, and a trenchant social critic who advanced a sacramental notion of work against technocratic utilitarianism.”

A Scholar for all Seasons

A Scholar for all Seasons

“With this kind of project, the challenge for the author is to craft a thesis that justifies the collection of essays and brings unity to the collection. Wood has done so as well as anyone might. The thesis of the book makes a statement about the Christian church in America.”

The Formless Void of the Therapeutic

The Formless Void of the Therapeutic

“We are experiencing, in the post-modern era, a slow-motion clash of visions: one which looks outward to the logos; another which finds meaning emerging from within. We need some sense of hope that psychological man does not extinguish what is best about us. To find hope, we must begin with understanding. To find understanding, we might begin with Philip Rieff and with Rieffian thought as developed in this excellent book.”

Thales College Essay Contest Winners

Thales College Essay Contest Winners

Thales College, a liberal arts and professional education institution based in Raleigh, North Carolina, hosted an international essay contest for high school students. In line with its tradition of publishing rising thinkers alongside established humane voices, The University Bookman is publishing the top two essays from the contest.

Thales College Essay Contest Winners

Individualism for the Greater Good

“These American heroes show us that we must be self-reliant, while also being team players and working for the common good. Independence and self-reliance do not make heroes ends in themselves.”

Thales College Essay Contest Winners

Me to We: Changing the I-llusion

“Belonging need not disappear just because we value independence. In fact, my generation can redefine individualism—not as isolation, but as a chance to strengthen ourselves so we can support each other better. It’s about finding the balance between standing on our own and reaching out a hand when someone else needs it.”

The Book Gallery

A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition. Click on the icon in the upper right corner of the video to see more episodes in this series or check out our YouTube page.

A Forgotten Russian Immigrant Poet in Hollywood
@NadyaWilliams81 on "Sidetracked: Exile in Hollywood" by Alexander Voloshin. Translated by Boris Dralyuk. Paul Dry Books.

The Scientific Evidence for God
Thomas Griffin on "God, The Science, The Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution" by Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies. Palomar Publishers.

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